Ready to throw in the towel, just cannot get balanced

Water bugs, swimming insects and sweat bees.
Foaming bubbly water. Frogs in the pool.
Dead animals in the swimming pool.
polarprincess

Ready to throw in the towel, just cannot get balanced

Postby polarprincess » Sun 10 Jun, 2012 10:27

Hi, about ready to throw in the towel. filled our pool with well water and it has a green tint to it. everyone said to throw some shock in there so we did. that didnt change the color of anything so brought in a sample to the pool store and they gave me a printout that alkalinity level was high, hardiness was low, sanitizer was low and stabilizer was low. so we added one dose of ph down for the alkalinity and still have to do 2 more but when i tested this am, the alkalinity had gone UP. yesterday it was 177 per pool store sample and today on test strip sample it was 240. We had alot of rain last night, so could that have caused it or is it just the test strip being off. i got the strips from the store. they did not have any Taylor type kits that i could see there.

so anyway, i also added the recommended amount of chlorine last night and have not added any stabilizer yet because i was not supposed to until my chlorine levels were stable.

this morning on testing my FCL was ok, TCL was 5, ALK 240, Ph 8.1, and tH ok.

pool store testing yesterday showed FCL 0.00, TCL 0.0, Combined 0.0, pH 7.6, hardness 170 ppm, alkalinity 177, cyanuric acid 3 ppm, copper 0, and iron 0.07.

my water is still green tinted as well.

help. I dont know where to go from here. i have researched this and researched this and i still dont get it. i dont want to keep spending hundreds of dollars in chemicals to never get crystal blue water. isnt there some step by step somehwere that shows me in order exactly what to do? everything is read is different. most people i know simplly use chlorine shock, granules, and floating tabs and dont do anything else and their water is blue. what am i doing wrong here? when is is safe for my kids to swim? since we had a storm last night should i shock it or what? Help please. thank you.


polarprincess

Ready to throw in the towel, just cannot get balanced

Postby polarprincess » Sun 10 Jun, 2012 12:54

ok i am seeing after the fact that i should have posted this under a different forum. my pool is under some trees so i am now wondering if maybe the green color is the trees relecting considering it is clear when you put it in a jar. thoughts? anyway, so after doing more research, do i have this right? first i need to get alkalinity correct.. then after that is ok balance the ph, after that is correct, put in the chlorine? and when chlorine is stable put in a stablizer and some floating tabs maybe. i was under the impression from the pool store that i should have put in the ph down then the chlorine the same day, but is there any point of even putting chlorine in if the alklinity is high?
czechmate
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Ready to throw in the towel, just cannot get balanced

Postby czechmate » Mon 11 Jun, 2012 10:53

Unless you undentify a knowledgeble guy in a pool store, it will more than pay off to spend 30-35 bucks on a Taylor test set. It is not always a pool store , often it is someone that is not good reading or testing, up to the level of being color blind. And than of course, you have the types that think that they wrote the book on pool chemistry. The expensive litmus paper strips are only orientantional feature to give you a quick information about potential hazard to your plaster and also serve well to give you an idea to which person in trhe store you should avoid next time.
Last time I had a 3 tests in 3 stores out of same bottle in a span of 30 minutes. Chlorine may dissipate but that was not a concern.
I had a readings in CYA and CH that varied quite dramatically.
Than the guy in his late forties told me, that my chlorine was too high at FC 5.
When I replied that on the contrary, with CYA at 90 it was a bit low, he proceeded to tell me how long he was in a business and he knows it all. I only replied, that I met a man once, who was over 80 and could not read, wished him lot of luck selling expensive remedies to solve his screwed up tests and left the store.
Pool chemistry is not as complicated as it looks. It just requires consistency to aquire knowledge and consistency to practice dilligently what you learn, to maintain proper balance.
At the end you are always ahead on money, pride of your investment and frustration free.
polarprincess

Ready to throw in the towel, just cannot get balanced

Postby polarprincess » Tue 12 Jun, 2012 22:52

lol, the guy that helped me was the owner and he put it into a computerized system that gave me a readout on exactly what to do, but one of the problems is his calucation for my pool size said 7600 gallons and the manufacturer of the pool says it holds 6700 so who knows which it is which can make the chemicals off. all i know is we are about 2 weeks in and still too scared to swim in it as it still has the green tint to it, and i am too scared that it is not balanced and my kids will swallow some amoeba or something and i just wish i had not bought the stupid thing. half the month is over, we still dont have clear water. i wish there was some pool boy i could just pay to come over and fix this for me. i want to buy the taylor kit but i already have so much money invested in this pool and chemicals for not being able to use it that i just cant spend anymore. if it clears up i might change my mind. we put some metal stuff to help get out the iron and the water seems to have cleared around the edges some but hopefully it will work. dont know if i should keep adding chlorine even if we arent using it to keep it sanitized and free from algae or if adding the chlorine is just oxidinzing the metals more and making it stay colored. uggh
TSH Tech

Ready to throw in the towel, just cannot get balanced

Postby TSH Tech » Thu 14 Jun, 2012 02:36

polarprincess wrote: my pool is under some trees so i am now wondering if maybe the green color is the trees relecting considering it is clear when you put it in a jar. thoughts?


THIS.
Is a very, very bad idea. Trees or shrub-like grotto hanging over a swimming pool is guaranteed to cause problems and green pools is one of them. You can have your chemicals all dialed in, but the sap, pollen, leaves and other organic matters that fall into the pool rapidly soak up the chlorine and just nail your filter to the point it clogs up, produces low flow and turns green on you, despite the fact your chemicals are balanced. The vegetation hanging over the pool is constantly hammering your pool 24/7 and your filter only runs for a few set hours. That's a battle that is being lost.


polarprincess wrote: i am too scared that it is not balanced and my kids will swallow some amoeba or something

If they grow a third eye, then you have other problems with your water.
:thumbup:

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